Wow.... It's been awhile.

Hey everybody!

Sorry that it has been so long since I last updated. It really has been forever.

Just a few updates:

• Roanie is doing AWESOME. We went to our first show of the season in June and we returned home with a First in Hunter Undersaddle, First EQ on the Flat, Second Hunter Two, and Second EQ over Fences. So, we ended up with a Reserve Grand Championship in Hunter and a Grand Championship in EQ.
• My riding has improved LIGHTYEARS since I have last posted. I am not doing most of the bad habits that I had been doing. Yes, I still have a few habits to break, but not NEAR as many.
• All of Roanie's winter coat is gone, which is great! So, now, he almost completely white, and I love it. :) I'll try to get some pictures of him up as soon as I can.

I will post some pictures from our last jump school soon, as well as putting up some from our amazing show. I'll more than likely just put them in a new post, so don't forget to check back if you would like to see them! :)

Have a great week all, and thank you for following "Life with Roanie"! :)

Update

Hey guys, its been awhile!
Sorry I haven't posted in so long, everything has been crazy.

So, with school and Cross Country in full gear, I haven't been able to ride as much as I would like to. I have been riding on average, once a week, and when I do, we usually don't ride very hard, just kind of piddle around. Well, I have changed my lesson day, so hopefully that will unable some more serious training on both of our parts. :)

Roanie is doing alright. Like I said, I haven't ridden in a while, so I don't know where his undersaddle skills will be, but I suspect that we will have to backtrack a few steps. I have decided that I am willing to be patient though, since it is my fault. My hopes are that we can work and train during the winter, and maybe make it to a few schooling shows, just for experience in the spring. We will see where things lead though, nothing is 100% at this point.

This was just a quick update, but I will let everyone know more after our lesson, and have a few pictures.

-Roaniesmommy

Thursday's Lesson

Okay everybody, I officially fail.

School started for us this week, so I have been really busy with homework and the such, so I haven't gotten on the computer much, and I didn't get to ride much.

That said, the promised tack pictures didn't get taken. :( I'm sorry! But next time, which will be next week, I will have multiple pictures of my nice, clean, shiny, tack. :)

Also, I haven't been keeping up with every ones blogs this week. I am working on reading all of the new posts now, just give me a little time, and I will be done. :)

And now, what you have all been waiting for - the story of the ride in our lesson.

Thursday, I went out to the barn to ride in the lesson.
I got there a little late, due to traffic, but he had just gotten his hooves trimmed and he was in his stall. Oh, and by the way, his hooves look GREAT! :) Anyway, I groomed him, and then tacked him up. Our warm up was a little rushed, but I made sure that he was good and loose before the lesson started.

Please keep in mind, when I start talking about the jumping portion of the lesson, that I had not gotten the chance to ride him in 6 days. It makes me feel horrible, yes, but I am doing all that I can.

Our warm up fence was a crossrail. It wasn't too small, but it wasn't very big either. We went uphill over it, and he looked at it, causing an awkward jump. When we went downhill over it, he stopped and looked at it. I turned him around, asked for the canter again, and we jumped it better.

Next we put the wooden jump and the red gate together. The wooden was not very good, at all. So, I went back down to the bottom of the arena, and picked up my canter, coming towards it again. Better. It wasn't great, but it was an improvement. We stopped and got our simple change, and then jumped the red gate. It was alright. It wasn't fantastic, but it wasn't horrid either.

Note that while I am saying this, the people that I was riding with, were saying that it was looking fine. It just felt this way to me. If you know what I mean.

Then we worked on the inside line. The corner going in to the inside line if VERY sharp. This gave all of us in the lesson a little difficulty, so we worked on this for a while. In the end though, me and Roanie finally got our act together, and made the turn pretty nicely. Over the first fence was good. We added the strides nicely, and then the second fence was pretty nice as well.

The last thing that we worked on was courses.

The course was up over the inside line, down over the outside line, up over the inside single, and down over the outside single.

Our inside line was pretty good since we had been working on it. He landed on his lead going towards the outside line.

Our outside line, was uh, interesting. Coming up to the first fence, he looked at it, then popped over it, causing the rail to be knocked down. We had lost all of our momentum, and I couldn't get him to find it, even if I used all of my leg power.
I woahed him, let them set the fence up again, and then picked up our canter, jumped it again, still a little awkwardly, but we got over it. The second fence in that line was pretty good, just a little off, from the awkwardness of the first one. We didn't land on our lead, so we stopped and got the simple change, and then cantered towards the wooden fence.

It was nice. We had a good pace coming up to it, and we flowed over it. It was a nice fence, all and all.

The red gate was messy. It was going downhill, and we kind of sped up, and then slowed down, and couldn't find our pace again. The fence was pretty good, but the approach was bad.

Since we had improved a lot since the beginning, we stopped there.
Every lesson keeps improving, no matter how small the improvement may be.

I am happy about it, since I had not gotten a chance to ride all week. I plan to change that this week though. I am going to try as hard as I can to get out and ride more often this week.

This Weekend...

After the perfect lesson on Friday, I decided that I would give Roanie Saturday off.
I brought home my tack, and I plan on cleaning and oiling it today, along with washing my saddle pads, cleaning rags, and my saddle cover. I am also planning on cleaning out my grooming kit, and cleaning all of my brushes.

Sunday, on the other hand, I plan to ride Roanie in the evening. We probably wont do much, just some flat work, working on engaging his hind end and the new, long rein thing. He deserves the break from jumping, and so does my neck and shoulders.

I plan on editing this post later, when I am done with my tack, and adding pictures of my saddle after it is clean and oiled. So, if you would like to see that, then come back. :)

Have a good weekend all!

The Blue Ribbon Worthy Course

Well, I am completely convinced now that I own a super horse.

So, I had a lesson this morning, and I decided to say "Neck, screw you. I am jumping. My horse is ready. He needs it. I am doing what everyone else is doing, no matter how much pain you decide to put me through." And so I did. Not too much pain though, just every now and again.

Anyway, the story gets better. I will start from the beginning. And, just in advance, so that I can say that you have had fair warning - this post will be long.

The warm up went well. I had Roanie on a short rein, trying to get him to rock his weight back on his hindquarters. My trainer saw me, and this is how our conversation went:

Him: "We are going to try something new with Roanie today."
Me: "Yes sir."
Him: "I want you to almost throw away your reins. Ride him from the waist down, and don't do much with your hands."
Me: "Yes sir."

Well, the first few warm up fences we had, I had a little bit of trouble adjusting to this new, long rein thing. I was so used to riding with a short rein, no choking him, or too short, just to where his head was a up a little higher.

Finally, everything started to click for both me and Roanie.

I had my hands lower, we got our canter departures better, and he was jumping better. I wasn't in his mouth at all (Except for maybe a little bit in the corners to balance him).

Then my trainer wanted to see us do a course.

The course was up over the inside line, down over the outside line, up over the inside vertical, and down over the outside vertical. Adding strides in the lines.

Turn going into the first line was a little forehandy, so I had to get him to get off of his face for the jump. The first jump was good. Nothing spectacular, but good nonetheless. The second jump was better. We had a good spot, and he landed on his lead. We had a really good pace too.

Going to the outside line. Both of us are relaxed, and really just enjoying it. First jump was pretty good. He kind of hit it with his foot, but didn't knock anything down. Second jump was gorgeous. Mucho perfecto. He landed on his lead this time too.

Inside vertical was amazing. Best fence ever. I felt him lift up his feet, and tuck his knees. His head went down to his knees too. Amazing. And, once again, he landed on his lead.

Outside vertical was good. Kind of an awkward spot, but we pulled it off nicely.

So, he landed on ALL of his leads, all of the fences were good if not better than good. My trainer was extremely happy with the way the whole course went, and he said that if it had been in a show class, we would have won.

Blue ribbon worthy course.

By doing what?
Simply making my reins longer, and using more leg.

It is amazing what the slightest difference can do to your horses performance.

And then what happened?
My trainer mentioned us possibly going to a show in September or October.

*Crosses fingers*

I hope that works out. It would be awesome to be able to show again this season. :)

I didn't get any pictures because we didn't videotape this lesson, but I will get some new updated pictures of Roanie and I soon.

First Jump Since Injury...

So, to update a few of you real fast, lets take a trip back in time shall we?

On August 4th, 2009, I was riding Roanie when he suddenly spooked. I fell off onto my head, where my helmet took most of the damage, but my head and neck hurt real bad. My mom decided, just to be safe, to take me to the ER.

We arrived, and after telling them about my fall, I was considered a "Large Animal Separation" case, so they had to take many precautions. I wasn't allowed to walk anywhere, and I had to wear a neck brace. I had to lay in one of the roller beds, and about a million doctors and nurses had to make sure I was okay. I ended up getting a CAT scan, and an ultra sound (I am NOT pregnant, they just had to check my internal organs) done, before they came to the conclusion that my neck and shoulder muscles were all pulled and bruised. I had to make an appointment with the Spine Doctor just to be sure though. So that appointment went well.

I obviously was not allowed to ride for a while.

Now, lets whiz back to the present, shall we?

I had my first ride since the injury on Sunday night. Roanie was alright, just really forehandy... We worked on the flat only to get both of us back into the condition of working. A lot of work was done at the trot. Towards the end, I had him really working his hindquarters. He was stepping up underneath himself, and he felt great.


So tonight....

I went out with every intention of doing only flat work again, although working more at the canter than the trot.

I went out to the pasture to catch him, and found him eating hay with one of his "girlfriends" in the shade trees. I walked up to him, caught him, and then stroked him all over while he continued eating some hay. And I realized, that you don't have to be riding or grooming, or lunging to build trust for your horse. You just have to be with him. It was the most peaceful thing in the world, sitting in the hay, just loving on my horse, while about 10 horses were surrounding me. It was a great feeling.
When I finally came back to my senses, I realized that we needed to go get tacked up. As I walked him to the barn, we did some ground work. I made sure that I really had his attention, and that he was really listening to what I was asking him to do. In the end, he did a lot better at that.
I brought him into the barn, and groomed him, and tacked him up. He stood like he was supposed to, and didn't take a step. Good sign. When we got in the arena, I did I nice, slow warm up with him. Walk, once around the ring in each direction, do a few walking circles, everything. Then we trotted quite a bit, and he did really well at using his hindquarters again. Canter? Eh, it was a different story. He was still pretty forehandy, too much for my liking, but still safe to jump. There was a crossrail set up on the outside of the ring. He was doing sooo well, and I didn't feel too bad, so trotting a crossrail wouldn't hurt would it? We jumped it twice at a trot, and then 4 times at a canter. So much fun, and he was feeling great. The crossrail then turned into a vertical. It was about 2 feet, if not a little bit lower. Cantered up it. Again. Again. Again. Now, I would jump out there and say that Roanie loves to jump, but he was feeling great, and his ears were perked. I could tell that he wanted to do a little more.

Pretty solid wooden fence, center of the ring? Set up at about 2 foot maybe 2'3? Well, why not?

We picked up our canter. Turn the corner, eyes on the fence. Eyes over the fence, 8 strides away. BUCK! BUCK! BUCK! Say what? I brought him down to a trot, and we trotted it. Then I stopped him, petted him because he jumped it (There was in a time in his training where he would have refused) and then thought back.

Well, guess what?

My horse is smart. Ridiculously smart. Too smart for his own good smart.

The last ride we had before the accident, we were working on flying lead changes. He would do a small buck to get the change. This was the path that we took to get the flying lead change. He thought I wanted a change of lead.

Smart horse.

So, we trotted the fence a few more times. Went the other way and jumped the fence. Then we put the two fences together. Uphill over the vertical, and downhill over the wooden. We did that a few times, and it was pretty good.

He was using his hindend more by this point, and listening better, so I wanted to try the wooden one more time.

I asked for the lead.

Gets it from a standstill.
Good sign.
Squeeze the legs.
Lift the hands slightly.
Good.

8 strides or so from the fence, a small crowhop.
Squeeze of legs to tell him to go forward.

5 strides out from the fence, another half hearted crowhop.
Squeeze of legs to tell him to go forward.

4 strides out.
Balance up.

3 strides out.
Use your hindend.

2 strides out.
It is going to be a good spot.

1 stride out.
Here we go.

And we soared over the fence.

Perfect.


I walked him out there. It was fabulous.
Untack him, groom him.
Hose him down.
Let him get a little bit of water, and then I turned him out.




Now, if I do say so for myself, that was a pretty good schooling for our first time jumping since the accident. Very good schooling. I am so proud of my boy. He is amazing.

Tomorrow I have a lesson on Roanie. I am hoping that all will go well, although after tonight's ride, I am fairly confident that tomorrow will go well.


As requested, I did get some pictures tonight. They are not the best quality, as they are taken from my phone. There is one of me and him, and another of just him. Here they are!

Meet Roanie and I

Hey everyone!

To start, I thought I would introduce you to Roanie, and myself. More information about Roanie can be found in his "Stats" on the side of my blog, and more information about me can be found in my user profile.

Roanie: Roanie is my main man. He is my show horse, my baby, and the horse that I ride and work with all of the time. He is about 7 years old now, and he is a QH crossed with another unknown breed. I ride him in Hunters, and show him in Hunters, although we are still trying to finish our training so that we can start seriously showing. He is a strawberry roan and he stands exactly 15.0 hands high. Roanie and I have done a lot of things together. Everything from trail riding, to jumping, to a small barrel race, to riding in parades. He is an amazing horse, and I would like to think that he is my once in a lifetime.

Myself: I am currently a high school student. I ride and show horses in Hunter. My dream is to become an Equine Veterinarian, and to attend Texas A&M for Veterinary Medicine. Horses are my passion, and I love them very much. I am a hardcore equestrian, and always will be. I work hard everyday of the week to make myself a better rider and horsewoman. When not riding, I am reading, or working out to help myself improve in the saddle.